What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? Have plenty of patience if you are a female and surround yourself with great mentors and/or vendors willing to guide you in your new career.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: My passions include my family and snow skiing, and I’m a fan of motorsports.

Favorite book and/or movie: I’ve always enjoyed the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, and currently I am reading the book Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance by Tony Dungy.

What do you consider your top personal achievement? I value the opportunity I’ve had to live in different cities over the years. Living in different regions of the country and meeting lots of people has been a great adventure!

Who do you consider “the best” in fleet? My predecessor, Brian McVeigh, led the GM Fleet & Commercial team in Canada and then in the U.S. for the past six years. The real testament to Brian’s career is the relationships with customers and partners, and the teams he built over the years. Brian always gave credit to the team.

Most interesting life experience: My dad always wanted to walk the beaches of Normandy, so several years ago I had the opportunity to take my parents on a trip to do just that. We toured the Normandy area and learned about D-Day. It was a proud and moving experience.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? Since I just entered the fleet business, I’ve been seeking advice from experienced leaders in the industry. One of the best opportunities I’ve had is traveling across the country during my first month on the job and getting to meet many of our partners and customers who have a broad range of skills and years of experience in the fleet business. I’ve been listening more than talking and asking for advice as I start my tenure in this job.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: During summer, my wife and I enjoy yard work — landscaping our property and maintaining the pool for extensive use.

Favorite book and/or movie: Probably the movie classic The Godfather or Rocky. I also enjoy old holiday movie classics. I always enjoyed the Mark Twain novels and books with a sports theme, such as Ball 4 by Jim Bouton or more recently, The Yankee Years by Joe Torre.

Top personal achievement: Receiving the inVentiv Corporate Leadership Award in April 2005, since few internal annual leadership and accomplishment awards are given. In addition, providing leadership to the New Jersey NAFA chapter and members as chair from 2005-2007.

Who do you consider the best fleet manager, other than yourself? With more than 25 years in fleet, it’s tough to single out any one individual. The late Harry Chouinard from Wheels comes to mind. In 1984, I was promoted to assistant fleet manager with Goody Products with no fleet experience. The current fleet manager died unexpectedly 90 days thereafter. I assumed all responsibilities and title. I became very dependent upon many individuals, including Harry and the New Jersey NAFA chapter.

Most interesting life experience: I previously owned a business named Speed Demon in partnership with another individual. We provided best-in-class speed variants for the thoroughbred racing industry to a diversified client base from 1985-1992.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? I never realized just what an interesting career fleet would become. At first, I viewed it as a stepping stone that would lead to some other corporate challenge. Twenty-five years later, I rejoice in this decision since no other position interests me at all but fleet. The people associated within this industry are wonderful human beings.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: My husband and I enjoy spending time with friends and family at our lake home. We like to go fishing and boating, ride our ATVs, golf, and going for long walks. I also like to run, cook, travel, and just have fun!

Top personal achievement: I married my high school sweetheart and we will soon celebrate our 21st anniversary.

Most interesting life experience: I have had the opportunity to travel, allowing me to visit some exciting places and meet many wonderful people. There is nothing like being in an unfamiliar place to learn, discover, and build great memories.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? You should have taken the job sooner! Seriously, it is a dynamic industry and I am honored to be part of it.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: Baseball, especially the stars from the past. I have a collection of player memorabilia from the 1920s to the 1960s. I also enjoy crossword puzzles. Most of all, I am dedicated to my family. No matter how good or bad my day is, I thoroughly enjoy spending time with them. I have a 5-year-old grandson who thinks I can “conquer the world.”

Favorite book and/or movie: While not a movie buff, I like uplifting themes, especially around Christmas. I tend to like older movies such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Holiday Inn, and The Bishop’s Wife as they tend to have more story than special effects.

Top personal achievement: Having the tremendous support and love from my family and very dear friends supersedes any other accomplishments, personal or professional.

Most interesting life experience: Being a grandparent and getting the chance to see life again because of my grandson. His innocence, unconditional love, and overall appreciation is something I cherish deeply.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? Once you have decided to enter the fleet management field, be 100-percent committed to learning your job. Invest in efforts to regroup if you fail, and never take the easy road as it may be a dead end. With this approach you will never be defeated, no matter the challenges, eventually overcoming even the greatest obstacles. Knowledge is your greatest ally, so learn all you can and do not be afraid to challenge yourself.

Favorite book and/or movie: My favorite book is Good to Great and my favorite movie is Caddie Shack.

Top personal achievement: Great family and friends and an exciting career with ROUSH.

Who do you consider the best fleet manager? Tough question as I have been in the automotive industry for 14 years, but am relatively new to the fleet world. Being able to juggle costs, driver satisfaction, maintenance, and green initiatives is not easy, so my hat is off to any fleet person in the business.

Most interesting life experience: Lots of travel opportunities to some great places. Probably eight days in Scotland with my dad, brother, and five friends playing golf is at the top of the list.

What advice do you wish someone would have given you before entering fleet? Listen more than you talk, ask questions, and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: I enjoy golfing whenever I can and spending time with my daughters.

Favorite book and/or movie: I enjoy any comedy movie, and my favorite book is Your Best Life Now.

Top personal achievement: Having two wonderful daughters and hearing teachers, coaches, and friends speak very highly of them.

Who do you consider the best fleet manager, other than yourself? Being the best fleet manager depends greatly on the needs of the individual fleet and pushing the limits of what is expected, so my choice would be anyone who’s able to manage their fleet with quality and integrity while pushing future limits to be even better.

Most interesting life experience: From growing up on a small farm in rural southern New Jersey to being the director of fleet & procurement for Comcast, with one of the largest fleets in the country, has been an incredible journey.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? The fleet industry is much smaller than you think, and most individuals know, or know of, each other, so it’s a more work-in-conjunction atmosphere than competitive.

[PAGEBREAK]Pete SilvaDirector, Fleet ProcurementPepsiCoPlano, Texas

Hobbies and passions outside of work: I love to go fishing with my father-in-law. I also like to attend sporting events and scuba dive with my wife.

Favorite book and/or movie: I am into watching old reruns of Mission Impossible.

Top personal achievement: Raising four kids with three in college and one about to go. Professionally, being recognized as Fleet Financials’ 2008 Fleet Executive of the Year.

Who do you consider the best fleet manager, other than yourself? I learned a great deal from two very competent fleet managers: Ted Phillips and Charles Loveless. I would also say I have two very strong fleet executives working in my organization in Ralph Schatz and Dennis Selle.

Most interesting life experience: Probably scuba diving in Grand Cayman or Bonaire.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? Spend some time learning about financial money markets and leasing.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: Golf, travel, and my second home in sunny, warm St. George, Utah.

Favorite book and/or movie: Movie: Gettysburg. Book: Book of Mormon.

Top personal achievement: Providing care to a spouse with cancer who was given six months to live and lived for six years.

Who do you consider the best fleet manager, other than yourself? I know so many that to limit it to one would do the others a great injustice.

Most interesting life experience: Raising three great children who are happy, successful, and well-adjusted.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? Expect the unexpected and realize fleet is a moving target and changes occur at the most unexpected times.

Glen VillanoChief Operating OfficerMerchants LeasingHooksett, N.H.

Hobbies and passions outside of work: Riding a Harley-Davidson and coaching youth soccer.

Favorite book and/or movie: Anything by Lee Iacocca on the book side and The Godfather on the movie side.

Top personal achievement: Helping build Harley-Davidson Finance from a start-up to a $200-plus million, best-in-class financial services provider. It was both challenging and rewarding.

Who do you consider “the best” in fleet? Robert and Gary Singer from Merchants Leasing — 45 years of leadership in the fleet leasing business. They understand the nuts and bolts end of the business and personally deal with each one of their customers. They are great mentors and role models.

Most interesting life experience: Working on annual service projects in various parts of the U.S. I have worked on improving conditions at an orphanage, home for the elderly, underprivileged school, and inner city Boys and Girls Clubs, to name a few. These experiences provided a personal understanding of a community’s challenges and allowed the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before entering fleet? Even in the worst of economic times, quality companies with value-added products can thrive. Economic chaos creates opportunities. Focus on how you can add value to your customer and take care of your employees. Success will follow.

Operations

Cox Automotive has established a new mobility services unit that combines existing businesses, such as its Flexdrive subscription service, with its acquisition of Clutch Technologies' subscription software platform to deliver fleet management solutions for mobility fleets, the company has announced.

Fleet management professionals who have completed NAFA's Certified Automotive Fleet Manager (CAFM) program typically earn about a 27% higher salary than those who didn't attain the certification, according to a Monster.com survey.

UPS will implement a new predictive analytics tool later this year designed to analyze details about its logistics network in order to meet the demands of e-commerce shopping and competition from FedEx and Amazon, and better manage its fleet.

“I am thrilled to have been elected by my peers throughout the fleet industry,” said Jozwiak. She continued, “I am looking forward to contributing, learning and growing with this great Fleet industry organization.”

The NAFA Fleet Management Association has revealed the remaining fleet professionals who have earned their CAFM (certified automotive fleet manager) designation in the 2017-18 year, and also those who have earned the CAFS (certified automotive fleet specialist) designation.

A move by the White House to roll back automobile fuel-efficiency targets set by the Obama administration and to challenge the right of California and other states to set stricter tailpipe emission rules faces an uphill climb.

The new Icon tier, which has been priced at $1,099 per month, provides a more affordable entry into the program than the two existing tiers and includes vehicles from its 3 Series and crossover lineup.